Boston Police Officer Nicholas O'Malley pleads not guilty to manslaughter after indictment in carjacking shooting

Boston Police Officer Nicholas O'Malley pleaded not guilty Thursday to a voluntary manslaughter charge following a deadly shooting in Roxbury last spring.

O'Malley, 33, is charged in the death of 39-year-old Stephenson King of Dorchester, who was shot by Boston Police on Wednesday, March 11. King was a suspect in a carjacking on Tremont Street that night.

King was sitting in the front seat of a stolen car when he was approached by O'Malley and another Boston police officer. O'Malley said King failed to listen to commands and started to drive towards them.

According to Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden, O'Malley then fired three shots through the driver's side window and killed King.

O'Malley said he believed the other officer was going to be crushed by King's car. Police determined that was not reasonable based on the body camera video and witness statements.

O'Malley was arrested eight days later on a manslaughter charge. He pleaded not guilty at his arraignment March 19 in Boston Municipal Court in Roxbury. O'Malley was later indicted by a Suffolk County Grand Jury on May 20 on the voluntary manslaughter charge.

The indictment officially moved his case out of Boston Municipal Court and into Suffolk Superior Court, where he was arraigned Thursday morning. 

"We vehemently feel this is not an appropriate charge and we look forward to our day in court," O'Malley's attorney David Yannetti told the judge. Yannetti represented Karen Read at her two trials in the death of Boston Police Officer John O'Keefe.

O'Malley was released Thursday on a promise to return to court on July 23 for a pre-trial conference. He was ordered to stay away from the witnesses in the case.